Gregg Re

Musk said his company began installing data-monitoring devices in its cars after, he claimed, the crew of the popular television show “Top Gear” pretended a Tesla vehicle ran out of energy on them.

Before posting detailed graphs he says were mined from Broder’s vehicle, Musk paused to consider the reporter’s possible motive.

“We did not think to read [Broder's] past articles and were unaware of his outright disdain for electric cars,” Musk wrote. “When the facts didn’t suit his opinion, he simply changed the facts. Our request of The New York Times is simple and fair: please investigate this article and determine the truth. You are a news organization where that principle is of paramount importance and what is at stake for sustainable transport is simply too important to the world to ignore.”

“My account was not a fake. It happened just the way I described it,” he wrote. “Knowing then what I know now about the car, its sensitivity to cold and additional ways to maximize range, I certainly would have treated the test differently. But the conclusion might not have been any better for Tesla.”